Carrier cartons



Feb. 11, 1958 P. A. TOENSMEIER CARRIER CARTONS Filed Feb. 24. 1956 IN VENTUR- CARRIER CARTONS Patrick A. Toensmeier, Hamden, Conm, assignor to The New Haven Board & Carton Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application February 24, 1956, Serial No. 567,672

Claims. (Cl. 29487.2)

This invention relates to carrier cartons for containers having necks with circumferential enlargements, an example of such a container being a bottle having a circumferential bead around its neck or a bottle or a cone top can closed by a crown cap with a crimped edge, which serves as the enlargement. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a new carrier for containers of the type described, which holds the containers secure ly, is of simple and inexpensive construction, and can be easily loaded and unloaded.

The carrier of the invention is made of a blank of paperboard cut and creased to provide a top and two side walls. The top Wall is formed with a row of openings, through which the ends of the container necks may be inserted with the edges of the openings engaging the enlargements from beneath, so that the top wall serves as a means for lifting the row of containers. The blank is also formed with partition members secured to the side walls along fold lines inclined to the vertical and the members are foldable on such lines to positions, in which the members define compartments receiving the containers and holding them against movement relative to the top wall and to one another.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a plan view, with parts broken away, of a blank for making a form of the new carrier for holding two rows of bottles with crown caps;

Fig. 2 is a view in end elevation showing the carrier formed of the blank of Fig! l with a bottle in place in the carrier; and

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective with parts broken away of the carrier shown in Fig. 2 with a full load of bottles.

The blank shown in Fig. 1 is for use in making a form of the new carrier for holding six bottles in two rows of three each and the blank is made of two sheets of paperboard, the larger of which is subdivided by creased fold lines into a top wall 11 and side walls 12 and 13 lying on opposite sides of the top wall. Partition members 14 of one group have one end connected to the free edge of side wall 12 and like partition members 15 of a second group have one end connected to the free edge of side wall 13. The other ends of partition members 14 are connected to a glue flap 16 and the other ends of partition members 15 are connected to a central wall panel 17 having a glue flap 18 secured to its outer edge along a crease line 18a.

The top wall 11 is formed with a plurality of openings 19 arranged in two rows of three each and each opening is defined by radial tongues 19a. The openings are of a diameter less than the diameter of the enlargement on the neck of the container to be carried in the carton. The blank illustrated is for use in forming a carrier for carrying bottles 20 closed by crown caps 21 and the crimped flared edge 22 of each cap serves as the enlargement, which can be passed through an opening 19 by flexing tongues 1%. After the cap has been inserted through an opening, the tongues spring back beneath the edge 22 and ice provide a means for supporting the bottle. Between the rows of openings 19, the top wall has openings 23, which permit the fingers of the user to be inserted, so that the carrier can be readily picked up.

The group of partition members 14 is made up of three pairs with the members of each pair separated by a slit 2a, which lies lengthwise of the blank and would, if extended, pass through the centers of a pair of openings 19 in the respective rows. The odd partition members 14a of the group are connected to side wall 12 and the glue flap 16 along inclined fold lines 25, 26, which terminate at the ends of slits 24. Similarly, the even partition members 141) are connected to the side wall 12 and the glue flap 16 along fold lines 27 and 28, which terminate at the ends of slits 24. The fold lines 25 and 26 lie parallel to the fold lines 28 and 27, respectively, and curved slits 29 at opposite ends of the slits 24 connect fold lines 25 and 27 and fold lines 26 and 28. The second and third partition members 14b, 14a are separated by a crease line 30 extending lengthwise of the blank and the fourth and fifth partition members 14b, 14a are similarly separated by a fold line 31 extending lengthwise of the blank. A pair of transverse crease lines 32, 33 cross the partition members 14a, 14b at the intersections of fold lines 25, 27 and 26, 28.

The partition members 15 are similar in all respects to members 14 and are formed in pairs 15a, 15b separated by slits 34, which lie lengthwise of the blank and would, if extended, pass through the centers of pairs of openings 19 in the respective rows. The odd partition members 15a are connected at their ends to the walls 13 and 17 along diverging fold lines 35, 36, which terminate at the ends of slits 34, and the even partition members 1519 are connected to walls 13 and 17 along fold lines 37 and 38. The fold lines 35, 36 lie parallel to fold lines 38, 37, respectively, and fold lines 35, 37 and 36, 38 are connected by curved slits 39 at opposite ends of the slits 34. The second and third partition members 15b, 15a and the fourth and fifth partition members 15b, 15a are separated from each other by fold lines 40 lying parallel to cuts 34 and the partition members are traversed by parallel fold lines 41, 42, which pass through the intersections of fold lines 35, 37 and 36, 33.

The wall panel 17 is formed with openings 42 of the same shape and size as openings 23 in the top wall 11 and the glue flap 13 is formed with curved recesses 43 in its free edge for a purpose to be described.

The smaller part 44 of the carrier blank provides an inner top wall of the dimensions of the top wall 11 and, in the completion of the blank, part 44 is secured to the inner face of wall 11 by adhesive. The inner top wall has openings 45, which register with openings 19 and are of a diameter equal to that of a circle passing through the roots of tongues 19a. The inner top wall has openings registering with openings 23.

The blank is converted into the carrier by folding the side walls 12, 13 to lie parallel at and at right angles to top wall 11, following which the blank is folded on fold lines 33 and 41, so that the groups of partition members 14 and 15 extend inward from walls 12, 13 at right angles thereto. The central panel wall 17 is folded on line 42 and the glue flap 18 is folded on line 18a and secured to the under surface of the inner top wall 44 with the cutouts 43 in the flap registering with the edges of openings 19 in the top wall. The panel wall 17 now lies in line with the median line of the top wall and parallel to side walls 12 and 13. The blank is finally folded on line 32 to turn the glue flap 16 parallel to wall 17 and the flap is secured to wall 17 by adhesive. With the blank in this condition, the partition members 14, 15 lie in a single plane parallel to the top wall and the blank can be collapsed, so that the top wall 11 and one of the side walls 12, 13 will lie in a plane and in face to face contact with the other side wall and the groups of partition strips 14, 15 lying in a plane.

When it is desired to load the carrier, pressure is applied to the collapsed blank to square it to form a tube. The pairs of partition walls 14a, 1411 are then folded inwardly toward the top wall 12 along the fold lines 25, 26 and 27, 2S and the partition members 15a and 15b are similarly folded along the fold lines 35, 36 and 37, 38. When the partition members are folded as described, the members of each pair extend convergently toward the top wall and define a compartment for a bottle. The compartment is aligned with one of the openings 19 and the neck of a bottle can be inserted into the compartment and forced inwardly until its cap 21 passes through the opening 19 in the top wall. As soon as the flared edge 22 of the cap has passed the tongues 19a, they spring back beneath the edge of the cap and support the bottle. At the same time, the insertion of the bottle has distorted the partition members defining the compartment, into which it was inserted, and these members grip the bottle tightly. When the carrier is fully loaded, the bottles are supported by engagement of their caps with the top wall and the individual bottles are held firmly in place against movement relative to the top wall and to one another by the partition members gripping their sides. Preferably, the length of the side walls is such that each pair of partition members engage the bottle at about the place, where the neck of the bottle merges with its body.

In the construction described, the blank is formed of two parts with the second part serving as an inner top wall 44. This arrangement is desirable, since it permits the main part of the blank to be made of relatively light paperboard and the two thicknesses of part of the top wall give that wall the necessary strength. However, by making the main pair of the blank of board of the appropriate weight, it is not necessary to use the separate inner top wall 44.

The carrier described may be considered to be made up of two sections having outer side walls 12, 13 and a common inner side wall 17 and a single section may be used alone as a carrier for holding three bottles. In such a one-section carrier, the top wall 11 is of half the Width shown and the side wall 12, the partition members 14, and the glue flap 16 are omitted. Also, the glue flap 18 is turned in the opposite direction and secured to the under surface of the top wall.

In the new carrier, the containers are firmly gripped by pairs of the partition members 14, 15, because the folding of these members upwardly toward the top wall causes the members of each pair to assume convergent positions. The reason for this is that the angles defined by the fold lines at the ends of a pair of members, that is, for example, by the fold lines 25, 27 and the fold lines 26, 28, are not right angles but exceed 100 and, preferably, lie in the range from 110 to 120. When the 4 members are folded along such fold lines, they do not lie parallel to each other, as would be the case if the angles between the fold lines were As the members of each pair converge upwardly, they must be distorted as they are separated by insertion of a container between them and, as a result, they grip the container tightly.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial No. 542,258, filed October 24, 1955.

I claim:

1. A carrier for a row of containers each having a body and a neck with a circumferential enlargement, which comprises a top wall having a row of openings for the ends of the necks of respective containers, the openings being of less diameter than the enlargement and defined by deformable edges adapted to permit passage of the enlargements through the openings and to engage the enlargements from beneath to support the containers, a pair of side walls extending downward from the edges of the top wall, and pairs of partition members attached at their ends to the lower ends of respective side walls along fold lines lying at an angle to the vertical, the fold lines at like ends of the members of a pair extending along the respective faces of the side walls, converging toward one another and defining an angle substantially in excess of and the members being foldable on such lines into the space between the side walls to form compartments for receiving the containers.

2. The carrier of claim 1, in which each opening is defined by tongues, which can be flexed to permit passage of an enlargement and spring back toward their original positions.

3. The carrier of claim 1 for carrying a row of bottles with crown caps with crimped edges, in which the openings permit insertion of the caps with the edges of the openings engaging the crimped edges of the caps to support the bottles, and the partition members of each pair are adapted to engage a bottle close to the junction of the neck and the body.

4. The carrier of claim 1 constructed to carry two rows of containers and having a central panel attached to the top wall along the longitudinal axis thereof, the partition members being in two groups extending between the central panel and respective side walls and the top wall having two rows of openings.

5. The carrier of claim 1, in which the central panel is connected by the partition members to one side wall and the partition members connected to the other side wall are attached to a relatively narrow flap secured to the central panel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

